come on feel the illinoise!
If you were lucky enough to be there, how awesome was Sufjan Stevens last night? I was a little surprised that the show sold out, and even more surprised (nay, shocked) that a mere 45 minutes after doors opened, the front of stage area was packed. Well, the man and his band lived up to expectations and then some. The cheers, the uniforms... and the most importantly the music. With 7 or 8 people crammed up on stage the songs (mostly from Illinois) soared... and oh, that voice. "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" was a personal highlight, as well as the first song of the encore, a cover of "the Star Spangled Banner," introduced as "a traditional song."
Liz Janes, who also played in the "illinoisemakers" (Sufjan returned the favour my drumming for her) opened the show. To be brief, the apple doesn't fall far from the bandmate tree, although I must say I was way more impressed with the more "traditional" folk tunes, the last number in particular. Definitely worth checking out.
Pics and hopefully some video to come. In the meantime, here's the video (.avi) to go along with the .mp3 of Feist's Conan performance from a couple weeks ago.
download: Feist - Mushaboom (live on Conan - video)
Shows! Shows! Shows!
I'm not at all embarrassed to say that I am absolutely hyped to see Gwen Stefani and M.I.A. at GM Place on November 20th, especially since Maya's North American headlining tour is only coming as close as SanFrancisco. Shit will be bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!
Garbage drop in on Vancouver for the first time in years (at least eight, maybe more). They play the Commodore on August 30th.
Last, but certainly not least, UBC's Alma Mater Society continues the turnaround from breadrock stomping ground to hipster paradise (and I'm not just saying that because I'm friends with the guy doing the bookings). Firstweek (Froshweek for you out-of-province folk) boasts Buck 65 on September 8th, the Weakerthans on the 9th, and Metric on the 10th. Even more exciting is the fact that Metric will be rocking a room less than half the size of the Commodore, which you may recall they packed to the gills last April. I haven't asked whether the shows are open or closed/students only or not, but I'll keep those of you who aren't trapped within the walls of academia posted.
now playing: Sleater-Kinney - Get Up
5 Comments:
I hope you post those videos. It was really fantastic and videos'd be great for remembering it. I wrote down the setlist on my palm, it's on my livejournal if you're interested.
By 
, at
2:23 a.m.
i'll send you some video and pics soon quinn.
By , at
3:06 a.m.
can you send me some clap your hands and say yeah sometime?
JC
By , at
9:15 a.m.
"Sufjan returned the favour by drumming for her" ...there's a SCARPie who probably wishes she'd consulted with you before betting $20 it wasn't him...
(fortunately, that SCARPie wasn't me)
oh that Sufjan, breaking all the "you do not wear your own tour t-shirt" rules...
By 
Aleksandra, at
11:14 p.m.
ab: thanks
sean: please do!
jen: sure
aleks: does it count if its a uniform?
